A regional prison in Australia that exclusively held LGBTQ+ folk is being heritage-listed. Called Cooma Gaol, it operated in New South Wales (NSW) where it still stands today.

The Cooma Gaol first opened in 1873, before former Justice Minister Reg Downing turned it into a correctional facility solely for “homosexual offenders” in 1957. It continued as such until 1984.

It was not just gay men that they sent to this prison, they also imprisoned transgender and non-binary people.

Downing described it as “The only penal institution in the world, so far as is known, devoted specifically to the detention of homosexual offenders.” He wanted to keep people convicted of these offences from other prisoners in an attempt to ‘cure’ homosexuality.

Cooma held up to 160 LGBTQ+ inmates and one of them spoke to the podcast, The Greatest Menace, about the prison in Australia. The man was arrested in 1961 by police posing as gay men and was charged with ‘attempt to procure an act of indecency with a male person’.

The 80-year-old told The Greatest Menace, “Underneath, I felt I sort of carried on like a normal person. But I was always terrified of it.” He said that after he served his time in prison, he did not feel safe; he was always on the edge, worried he would be put in prison again.

“Being in prison for being gay, it ruined my life altogether.”

 

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The prison was a focal point for the first decriminalisation campaigns in Australia. The Homosexual Law Reform Society in Canberra was formed in 1969, and the Campaign Against Moral Persecution Inc. in Sydney was formed in 1970, both in direct response to the injustices experienced by those behind bars.

After homosexuality was legalised in 1984, the prison went back to housing all kinds of people. In 2014, the Criminal Records Act 1991 allowed people to clear charges of ‘homosexual offences’ if the individual was consenting and of age.

Today, Cooma is a minimum and medium security correctional facility.

Speaking about adding the prison to the NSW State Heritage Register, NSW Minister for Corrections Anoulack Chanthivong said, “The inclusion of Cooma Gaol on the State Heritage Register is important in that it ensures the stories of those who were unjustly treated are acknowledged and preserved for generations to come.”